1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication device capable of operating in both operation modes of a base station mode in which the device functions as a base station and a slave station mode in which the device functions as a slave station.
2. Description of the Related Art
In wireless communication represented by a wireless local area network (LAN) complying with IEEE 802.11 standard series, there are many setting items, which have to be set before use. For example, the setting items include communication parameters necessary for performing wireless communications such as an SSID as a network identifier, an encryption method, an encryption key, an authentication method, and an authentication key. Setting them by a user's manual input is very cumbersome.
In a non patent document (http://www.wi-fi.org/files/kc/20090123_Wi-Fi_Protected_Setup.pdf), a Wi-Fi Protected Setup (hereinafter, “WPS”), which is an industry standard of communication parameter automatic setting in an infrastructure mode in which a station (a slave station) communicates through an access point (a base station) is discussed. In currently commercially available products that support the WPS function, the base station mainly manages the communication parameters and directly provides the communication parameters to the slave station that requests acquisition of the communication parameters.
In the WPS, a device that manages and provides the communication parameters is called a registrar, and a wireless terminal that requests acquisition of the communication parameters and receives the communication parameters from the registrar is called an enrollee. In some products, an external device connected to the base station like a personal computer (PC) has a function of the registrar, and the communication parameters can be provided from the external device to the slave station that operates as the enrollee through the base station.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-038579, a technique of setting the communication parameters in an ad-hoc mode in which the slave station directly communicates without involving the base station has been suggested. Specifically, a technique of receiving the communication parameters from another communication device and provides the received communication parameters to another communication device again has been discussed.
Further, in US Patent Publication No. 2007-0297347, an example, in which one communication device has both a base station function and a slave station function and the functions are switched to perform communications, has been discussed.
It is assumed that a plurality of wireless communication devices, which can automatically switch between the base station function and the slave station function, are present, and another device is participating as the slave station in a wireless network formed by a certain one device as the base station. Here, a case in which communication parameter automatic setting by the WPS is performed to newly bring a wireless communication device into the wireless network, is considered.
In this case, a user needs to instruct the newly participating device and the wireless communication device, which serves as a communication parameter providing device among a plurality of wireless communication devices already connected with the wireless network, to start communication parameter automatic setting.
In a typical wireless network, each wireless communication device has any one of the base station function and the slave station function, and a device which operates as the providing device is the base station or a device connected to the base station. Therefore, the user can recognize the newly participating device as a communication parameter receiving apparatus and the base station as the communication parameter providing device, and give a communication parameter automatic setting start instruction.
However, in the case in which a plurality of wireless communication devices connected to the wireless network can automatically switch the base station function and the slave station function, the user can not recognize which wireless communication device operates as the base station. As a result, there may occur a problem in which it is difficult to simply recognize which device operates as the communication parameter providing device, and therefore it is difficult to recognize a device, which is an automatic setting operation target.